Global Learning

2/15/2012

Cheryl Williams, executive director of the Learning First Alliance, has been appointed to represent K12 education on the TechAmerica Foundation’s Recommendations for Education and Advancement of Learning (REAL) Commission.

2/2/2012

New York City public advocate Bill De Blasio is planning to introduce a task force to reform career and technical education in high schools. His six-point plan includes new legislation to make sure job trends and CTE programs match up, and a scholarship fund to help students earn industry certification upon graduation.

Jill Duffy of PCMag.com may have said it best: "Apple brings a spotlight with it everywhere it goes, and people pay attention to anything caught in its glow."

Rumors of the new and improved iBooks application began swirling weeks before Apple's anticipated announcement on Jan. 19, but perhaps no one was expecting the tidal wave of media coverage that proclaimed the company's venture into the textbook industry to be the Holy Grail of K12 learning. After all, iPads are hardly new, nor are their netbook predecessors or online learning material, for that matter.

If the results of the most recent international achievement tests were graded on a curve, U.S. students probably would rank somewhere in the B range. They placed 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics among 70 countries whose 15-year-olds participated in the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing, the latest figures available.

1/30/2012

There’s a new battle brewing in America’s classrooms, and while it doesn’t have the religious implications of the evolution vs. creationism debate, it has prompted several state legislatures and local school boards to get involved.

1/24/2012

Most high school students don't spend their time fretting over mortgages, stock prices, or their 401(k) plans, but they are at an age when smaller financial responsibilities start creeping into their lives.

1/23/2012

One example of schools educating their students about financial literacy is in VA – where learning company Pearson has created a comprehensive set of personal finance materials, aligned to the state’s newly created financial and economic academic standards.

1/2/2012

When Connecticut teacher Larry Shortell talks with his students about cultures and traditions in other countries, he can do more than check a textbook for background. He can consult his own memories gathered in trips to all 50 states, more than 80 nations and every continent.

11/28/2011

Over the past decade, students in Finland have soared on international measures of achievement. They've continued to post some of the best scores in the developed world in reading, math and science, according to a respected international exam.

The contracts for next school year -- the ones that will actually provide the type of information parents need, such as which programs, curriculum and extracurricular activities will be provided -- will not be approved and made public until probably spring.